In 1918 Stanislavski founded an Opera Studio under the auspices of the Bolshoi Theatre, though it later severed its connection with the theatre. Its successful production of "Werther" in 1923 was banned while the director was abroad. In 1924 it was renamed the "Stanislavski Opera Studio" and in 1926 it became the "Stanislavski Opera Studio-Theatre", when it moved into its own permanent base at the Dmitrovsky Theatre.

In 1928 it became the Stanislavski Opera Theatre. Shortly before his death in 1938 Stanislavski invited Vsevolod Meyerhold to take over the direction of the company; Meyerhold led the theatre up to June 1939.

Nemirovich had participated in the Bolshoi's production of "The Snow Maiden" but soon left for independent work. Nemirovich leaned towards popular operetta and vaudeville. At the end of 1920 he started production of Lecocq's "La fille de Madame Angot", causing an uproar of the "serious drama" core of Moscow Art Theatre company. The show premiered in May 1920, starring Valeria Barsova and guests singers from Poland and Bolshoi company, and became a sell-out hit. A number of successful shows followed until 1925, when the company left for a long tour of Europe and the United States. Nemirovich took up an American offer and stayed in Hollywood until September 1927.

When Nemirovich returned to the USSR in 1926 his operetta studio did not have a permanent base and orchestra, borrowing both from Stanislavski's theatre in Bolshaya Dmitrovka Street. The company produced primarily musical comedy shows but also the "serious" opera - "Traviata" and "Katerina Izmailova", both in 1934; Katerina Izmailova was banned in 1935 and resumed in 1962.

On 1 September 1941 the companies, reduced in number, were merged to become the "Moscow State Musical Theatre of Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko." Nemirovich was appointed its artistic director. Keep on overcoming the limitations of the opera genre, he defended the title of a musical theatre.